When it comes to anxiety and panic attacks, I’m often asked if it’s a physical experience, a mental struggle or a spiritual battle. In my own experience and what I’ve heard from others, it’s rooted in all three areas.

Think about water for a moment. It can exists in three distinct states — liquid (water), vapor (steam) and solid (ice). Like water, our being consists of three distinct elements–physical, mental and spiritual. Paul closes out his first letter to the Thessalonians with this encouragement, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v5:23, emphasis mine). That is my prayer over you as well, that God would help you find freedom in your spirit and soul and body.

I hear many stories from those struggling, and very few pursue healing in all three areas. Often, people will pursue a bodily solution (like medication and exercise), but neglect the mental and spiritual aspects. Others may combine body and soul (like exercise and counseling), but neglect the spiritual. And, even faithful believers may focus primarily on the spiritual side of freedom (prayer and deliverance) but neglect the physical and mental aspects.

True freedom comes when you address all these areas.

The Body

Panic attacks are a very physical experience. Your body responds with increased adrenaline, rapid heart beat, shallow breathing and increased blood pressure. It’s getting ready to run or fight. Blood is pumped to your arms for fighting and legs for running. (Ever notice your hands tingling or getting cold?) Acid is released in your stomach to quickly digest food for energy. (Ever get butterflies in your stomach?) Your body is responding to a threat, either real or imagined.

There are certain triggers that can escalate that fight or flight mode, like caffeine or sugar. And, there are physical things you can do to reduce the anxiety, like exercise or medication. Early in my struggles, I found some peace with medication, but today I’m medication free by focusing on diet and exercise to help me release that excessive adrenaline. You can read more on my story about medication. (There maybe other medical triggers causing the anxiety and panic attacks. While it’s very rare, you should talk to you doctor.)

The Soul

The soul is your mind, that part of you that makes choices. The soul is where your memories live and your emotions are experienced. It’s an incredibly complex system of thoughts, ideas, choices and perspectives.

It’s also where anxiety and panic attacks are triggered. Just like the body can trigger those terrifying feelings, so can your soul. Maybe it’s a traumatic memory or a painful parental wound, the soul can initiate those experiences with fear.

When I was in college and the “episodes of fear” were rampant in my life, I made an appointment with a counselor who began sharing with me information about a term I had never heard before: “panic attacks”. A few years later, I began meeting regularly with a pastor who had experienced the same thing, but was now free. He began to teach me about my thoughts and choices, and how to renew my mind (Romans 12:2). But, he didn’t stop there. He began to teach me about…

The Spirit

Understanding the spiritual side of panic attacks changed everything for me. I believe it’s what gave me the edge to find true, complete freedom. Sadly, I believe it’s where most people fall short. The more I began to understand the truth, the more freedom I began to experience. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (Romans 8:32).

Regarding the spiritual side of fear and panic attacks, here are a few of the key topics that were incredibly helpful:

Grace

Understanding the finished work of Christ and all he has done for us has revolutionized my relationship with God. Here are a few messages I wrote about grace:

Authority

Even today, I don’t completely understand all of the authority that we truly have as believers. God has given us amazing authority here on the earth (Luke 10:19), and I believe the enemy’s greatest strategy is to keep us blind to our authority.

If we truly knew how big and powerful we were and just how small and powerless the enemy was, it would change everything.

Freedom

Combining all that I learned about the spiritual side of freedom, I chronicled my journey in this series of articles:

Too often, we define ourselves through sin. When we mess up, we verbally and mentally abuse ourselves. You’re so stupid. Or, when we know what to do but don’t do it, then we just give up, Why even try? This vicious cycle of defeat can be terribly frustrating and create anxiety and fear in our lives.

Here’s how Paul, the Apostle, described his own experience with sin: “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate” (Romans 7:15). When we are sin-conscious, all we see is our mistakes, our failures, our shortcomings.

The Garden of Eden is a great example of what happens when we move from being God-conscious to sin-conscious. Before they sinned, Adam and Eve enjoyed an incredible relationship with God. They walked together in the cool of day and spent time together. Their fellowship was invigorating and full of life! There was no awareness of sin. There was no right or wrong. No rules. There was no knowledge of good or evil. There was just fellowship with God.

Then sin happened. Immediately, humanity was aware of sin. They had become sin-conscious: they were hyper aware of their failures, mistakes and shortcomings. So, when God showed up, they hid themselves. Adam said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10).

The immediate response to sin is shame. When shame sets in, we hide ourselves from God and we become afraid. We often experience fear because we pull away from God due to sin and shame. I don’t believe God ever pulls away from us. He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). It’s always us pulling away from him. Like Adam, we hide ourselves from him because of shame. And in the same way, God is continually pursuing us because of he loves us so much.

From the day Adam and Eve sinned, all of humanity has lived sin-conscious, defining ourselves by following rules, doing what is right and not doing what is wrong. Today, many, many people live sin-conscious. But, that’s not how God wants us to live.

When Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life and then died for our sins, he made a way for us to be sinless in God’s eyes. In Christ, we are no longer sinners. In Christ, we are perfect, holy and righteous. In Christ, we have moved from being sinners to being saints.

“But, I still sin.”

Yes, so do I. As long as we live in these physical, mortal bodies, we will experience sin. If you continue reading in Romans 7, Paul talks about this war in our members (our bodies) that wages on continually (v. 23). But, our flesh (our body) is not who we are. We are spirit and soul. The real you is not defined by the physicalness of your body. “Your real life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

Sin has very real consequences in this life. If you murder, there are consequences. If you steal, there are consequences. If you treat your body poorly, there are consequences. Sin will affect your physical life. But, sin should not define you because in Christ, God does not see your sin.

Honestly, we have it backwards.

We think that because of sin God is not pleased with us, so we try harder not to sin and clean up our lives. If we can stop sinning for awhile, then we can go to God with our needs. We wait to be clean in our own eyes before we approach God. But, that’s backwards.

God says, “You are clean and holy in Christ right now. Come to me as you are and let me help you with those areas of weakness.” Strength to stop sinning does not come from us trying harder. It comes from spending time with God and allowing him to help us.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:17).

Prayer: Father, reveal to me that my sins are gone, washed away and that I am holy and perfect in your eyes.

This week is the start of a new series of messages on grace. I believe grace has the power to cast out fear. As we grow in our knowledge of God’s perfect love towards us through grace, it will empower us to find freedom from anxiety, fear and panic attacks.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).

I’ve always found this verse a bit cryptic and even condemning at times. The last part made me feel less loved: “…he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” I knew I loved God, and I knew he loved me, but I concluded (wrongly) that because I feared, I must have done something to push him away.

As I continue to grow in my walk with God, I’m learning everyday just how amazing and powerful grace is. So much of our thinking about God is just plain wrong. Here are three reasons why I believe our understanding of grace is inaccurate:

Wrong Education

As children, we’re often taught (directly and indirectly) that life is all about performance. Do good, and you’re rewarded. Do bad, and you’re punished. We’re constantly bombarded in the area of performance. Parents discipline their kids for bad behavior and reward good behavior. In school, students are graded on their performance. In the workplace, hard work and good decisions lead to promotion. Poor work and bad decisions lead to a dead-end job and possibly being fired. Our culture is one based on performance.

Sadly, most churches today just don’t teach the depth of God’s grace and what Christ has really done for us. Most messages from the pulpit mix grace with a list of “oughts and nots.” And, when we fail to “do good”, then God’s grace steps in brings us back to God. But, that’s not what the Bible says. As we dig deeper into grace and what it really means in our lives, we’ll learn that grace is a gift freely given and we can do nothing to earn it.

Wrong Conclusions

Way too often, we ask God for something, but when the answers don’t come, we quickly conclude that God has a different plan for our lives. Or, we conclude that our sin is hindering God’s working power in the situation. We pray for healing and it doesn’t come. So, we conclude that healing ended with the last book of the Bible. Or, we conclude that sin in our lives is keeping God from wanting to heal us. We pray for freedom from fear, but when the next panic attack hits, we start concluding that it’s our fault.

If I just had more faith…
If I could just overcome this weakness…
If I could just get past this hurt…
If I could just stop sinning…

My hope for this series on grace is to challenge these wrong conclusions. As you grow in your understanding of God’s grace, peace will flood your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We Have an Enemy

We can’t forget that there is an unseen enemy who is out to thwart our understanding of grace. The more he can confuse and disrupt our grasp of grace, the more he can keep us in bondage. John 10:10 says that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. I know first hand just how much fear steals my joy, kills my dreams and destroys my peace.

We should not fear the enemy. Jesus has disarmed him (Colossians 2:15) and has given us authority over Satan and his demons (Luke 10:19).

This week, I encourage you to start thinking about grace. What does it mean to you? How do you define it? How does it apply to your life? Hopefully, we can answer those questions in the weeks ahead.

Prayer: Father, help me understand more clearly what I believe about grace. Holy Spirit, teach me about grace and how to apply it to my life.

This week, as part of our church’s New Year devotional, we’ve been memorizing Ephesians 2:8,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”

I’ve heard this scripture for years. So much so, that I’ve become quite familiar with it. But, that’s not a good thing. Too often, familiarity breeds complacency. The more we know something, the less importance we give it. It’s the “curse of knowledge”.

Each day this week as I said those words, something started to stir my soul. I began to realize that incredible freedom lies in the truth of these words. Freedom from fear, anxiety, torment and panic attacks is right there in these words.

Let me show you.

By grace

You have been saved

Through faith

By Grace

I’ve been sharing these past few weeks about how righteousness is a gift from God. It’s not something we can earn or work for. It’s a gift, just it says in Ephesians 2:8 and 9. In Romans 4, Paul contrasts the difference between a wage and gift, “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (v4, 5).

When you work for your right standing with God, then it’s accounted to you as a wage. The problem is that God requires perfection, so the wage becomes a debt against you that you’ll never be able to pay. None of us will ever be able to meet his requirements for righteousness, but he knew that, and he sent his Son to take our sin and give us his righteousness as a gift.

So, what is this gift that we have received by grace?

You have been Saved

The gift is salvation, but again, we are so familiar with this word. Do we really know what it means to be saved? What are we saved from?

To fully understand what it means, let’s go to the original language of the New Testament. This word saved comes from the Greek word sozo (sode’-zo). This word literally means “to be made whole in our body, soul and spirit.”

Too often, we think of it as being saved from hell. Salvation is so much more than that. Jesus didn’t just die to keep you out of hell–he died to make you whole (Isaiah 53:4-5), give you freedom (John 8:32), and to give you an abundant life (John 10:10).

Fear, panic, depression, and anxiety are often the results of deep, emotional wounds and trauma. You need to know that Jesus died to set you free from those crippling things, so that you can live life abundantly. He died to make you whole!

Through Faith

Like the word saved, I believe we have also become too familiar with this word faith. We’ve given it a variety of meanings and variations. She’s of this faith and he’s of that faith. If I just had more faith, then God surely would respond to my prayers.

Again, let me go back to the original language. This word faith comes from the Greek word pistis. Throughout the New Testament, it is translated as “faith”. Interestingly, the verb variation of this word is pisteuo, which is translated as “believe”. The word “faith” in the New Testament simply means belief or believing. To have faith is simply to believe.

Now, combine these three phrases: By grace, you have been saved, through faith.

Here’s the Season of Peace paraphrase: When you can truly believe that righteousness in Christ is a gift from God, you will be made whole in your body, soul and spirit.

This is such truth to me. I have experienced deeper levels of freedom and peace knowing that God is pleased with me. I can now boldly come into the throne of grace in my time of need (Hebrews 4:16), and talk to God as my Father. I don’t have to strive and strain to please him. He’s happy with me just as I am, because he has given me a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26).

Prayer: Father, help me understand more and more how by grace I have been saved through faith.

My book, Season of Grace shares my journey from crippling panic attacks to a life of freedom. I share many of the practical, emotional and spiritual steps I took. You can order it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

About

For most of my life, I battled crippling anxiety and panic attacks. For the longest time, I had no hope. My world was closing in all around me. Today, I am free and living a life full of peace and abundance. Freedom is real. You can be totally set free for the bondage of fear. [Read my story]